Burmese Python Invasion Tracked in Florida
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey (www.usgs.gov) has Florida wildlife officials worried about a Burmese python invasion in the Everglades National Park (www.nps.gov/ever). Now, since the pythons first made travel into the area in 1979, they have found the perfect breeding and feeding grounds and their numbers have grown to at least 300,000 snakes.
It’s thought that the Burmese python invasion actually began to get its grip onto the area in 1992 when the area was devastated by Hurricane Andrew and a python breeding facility was destroyed. Since then, local officials have tried many things to try to get rid of the snakes, using everything from traps to poison with little lessening in their growth.
Burmese Python Invasion Decimates Local Wildlife …show more content…
Since the Burmese python invasion, they have become the top predator in the local environment.
Officials Fear Pythons Will Never Leave
With their numbers in the hundreds of thousands, local biologists fear that the Burmese python invasion will never end well. The snakes have no natural predators and even the mighty alligator falls prey to the snakes as a meal. And the more they eat, the more they breed, according to local officials. They have discovered in the recent study that the range of a single python is about three miles, so they travel to find their food and mates.
Additionally, the Burmese python is very hard to find since it is a muddy brown color and matches the foliage, mud and other area plants. These snakes can get to 19 feet long and weigh more than 165lbs for the females. The Burmese python lays a clutch of between eight and over a hundred eggs, so they repopulate quickly.
Studying Habitat to Help Curtail Burmese Python
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey (www.usgs.gov) has Florida wildlife officials worried about a Burmese python invasion in the Everglades National Park (www.nps.gov/ever). Now, since the pythons first made travel into the area in 1979, they have found the perfect breeding and feeding grounds and their numbers have grown to at least 300,000 snakes.
It’s thought that the Burmese python invasion actually began to get its grip onto the area in 1992 when the area was devastated by Hurricane Andrew and a python breeding facility was destroyed. Since then, local officials have tried many things to try to get rid of the snakes, using everything from traps to poison with little lessening in their growth.
Burmese Python Invasion Decimates Local Wildlife …show more content…
Since the Burmese python invasion, they have become the top predator in the local environment.
Officials Fear Pythons Will Never Leave
With their numbers in the hundreds of thousands, local biologists fear that the Burmese python invasion will never end well. The snakes have no natural predators and even the mighty alligator falls prey to the snakes as a meal. And the more they eat, the more they breed, according to local officials. They have discovered in the recent study that the range of a single python is about three miles, so they travel to find their food and mates.
Additionally, the Burmese python is very hard to find since it is a muddy brown color and matches the foliage, mud and other area plants. These snakes can get to 19 feet long and weigh more than 165lbs for the females. The Burmese python lays a clutch of between eight and over a hundred eggs, so they repopulate quickly.
Studying Habitat to Help Curtail Burmese Python